Kenan: The boy behind Global Medical Relief

Playing soccer at 11, he stepped on a landmine. At 28, he leads by example, showing maimed children how good life can be

 

On "60 Minutes" this week, Scott Pelley tells the story of Elissa Montanti and the global charity she runs out of a converted closet inside her tiny Staten Island home.

Montanti brings maimed children from war zones and disaster areas around the world to the United States for free medical treatment. She's helped over a hundred children so far, and it all started with a letter from a Bosnian boy named Kenan.

Kenan Malkic had just turned 11 when he went running for a loose ball in a soccer game with friends. He stepped on a landmine in the tall grasses of his neighborhood playground and lost both his arms and one leg in the blast. Montanti, who was a medical lab assistant in Staten Island at the time, arranged to bring Kenan to the U.S. for medical treatment. Now 28, Kenan is still in Staten Island, living in Montanti's home and working as her partner in the Global Medical Relief Fund.

In this video, you'll hear Kenan's story and see first-hand how he leads by example, helping kids from Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti, and elsewhere who arrive here with extreme injuries just like his.

 

 

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